J. Warburton et al., OLDER-PEOPLE - THE RESERVE ARMY OF VOLUNTEERS - AN ANALYSIS OF VOLUNTEERISM AMONG OLDER AUSTRALIANS, International journal of aging & human development, 46(3), 1998, pp. 229-245
In Australia, as in other Western countries, policy-makers are turning
their attention to older people, particularly the early retired, as a
rich potential source of volunteers. This study examines volunteer be
havior in a sample of older Australians in either their immediate pre
or post retirement phase. It involves a secondary analysis of data col
lected for a study on retirement, and seeks to examine the main social
and demographic differences between those who volunteer and those who
do not. The key concepts associated with volunteering are the availab
ility of 1) time and 2) social and personal resources. Logistic regres
sion analyses revealed that volunteers are significantly more likely t
o come from the higher occupational classes, are less likely to be sel
f-employed, and are more likely to view their health positively. Impli
cations of these results for social policy are discussed.